The River of Red
by Jonohex
Summary: *UPDATED 12/23/11* Naruto tracks down a runaway genin named Tomoki who'd always been the quiet, 'good' kid at the Academy. But the reasons for his sudden departure are compelling and may cost BOTH of them their lives. *Takes place after Wave Country arc*
1. The Unearthed Grave

**The River of Red**

By Jonohex

* * *

Naruto tracks down a runaway leaf ninja named Tomoki who'd always been the quiet, 'good' kid at the Academy. But the reasons for his sudden departure are compelling...and may cost both of them their lives.

*This story takes place early in the series, after the Wave Country Arc and before the Chunin Exams.*

* * *

**Chapter 1 – The Unearthed Grave**

Tomoki tried to still his racing thoughts as he sat and waited on the trunk of a fallen tree. The boy's legs twitched restlessly as he tightened his grip on the dirt-caked shovel that rested across his knees. His open-toed boots and clothes - a pale grey, multi-pocketed vest worn over midnight-blue fatigues, were filthy; his calloused hands raw. Beads of sweat rolled down his young, grime-streaked and partially sunburned face as he looked up over the treetops at the blazing, late afternoon sun to check the hour, squinting and raising his hand to shield his eyes of lusterless brown against the glare.

_Plenty of time,_ Tomoki thought pensively and hung his head.

The clearing where the boy sat, bounded by tangled forest, steamed in the summer heat. From over the ridge that rose up behind him whispered the sounds of a rushing stream. All around, flies flicked and clouds of gnats swarmed. The air was thick with the scents of earth and verdure but was fouled by something pungent.

_So this is what it's come to. This is where it finally ends,_ he concluded and was overtaken by a fit of nervous laughter. _Stop it, stop it! Get a hold of yourself…calm down!_ he urged himself and fell gradually silent.

Tomoki dropped his eyes and gazed around at the mounds of freshly-dug dirt and the tangles of undergrowth, the shards of broken stone and all the things he'd brought with him: compass and map, sledgehammer, rope, pry bar, and haversack. Atop it all sat his weapons: a pair of curved, short swords; scores of triangular-bladed and double-edged kunai knives, and an ample supply of shuriken throwing-stars.

The corner of his mouth rose. _Yeah, I'll be needing those soon enough,_ he guessed with near certainty then drew a deep breath to settle his ragged nerves.

_Think now…strategy, remember your strategy. _The boy tried to focus, but it was hard.

Tomoki thought back to all he'd learned during his training at the ninja academy of the Village Hidden in the Leaves and the rest that he'd discovered on his own. Most people would regard him as extraordinarily dangerous for a boy only twelve years old but the truth was that he was very good at some things but only marginally so at others – the jutsus and techniques that his teacher, Iruka-sensei had struggled to teach him. That effort had not been totally wasted however for Tomoki had gotten stronger over the years…in body, mind and spirit. He'd graduated, after all, and was now a _genin_ – a fully-fledged ninja of the lowest rank.

It bothered him now that he'd never given the good-hearted man or his challenges a full effort and regretted that he would, most likely, never see him or any of his classmates again. As Tomoki considered this he doubted he'd be missed much.

The boy reached up and took his headband from around his closely-cropped, brown-haired head then stared at the swirled leaf sigil that represented his adopted home. His fingers closed around the _hitai-ate_ as he nursed a sentimental pang then set it aside.

_It's no good to think about what's passed or what might have been,_ he advised himself._ You've got plenty to worry about right now. _Tomoki took out his canteen and opened the top, then fished inside one of his vest pockets for the little paper bundle Ichi, the fortune-teller and practitioner of traditional medicines, had given him. _'It's good for the chakra,'_ the old man had said.

Tomoki gave the various powders, crumbled leaves and other unidentifiable bits that comprised the prescription a skeptical frown and dumped it in. He took a drink and choked on its bitterness, looked at it with a sour expression then forced himself to take a smaller, more manageable swallow.

Another hour passed as the fledgling ninja sat there…waiting. For a time, he prayed and asked for the help of his predecessors and the great _jonin_ and _hokages_ of the past whose spirits might be inclined to help him now in the hour of his greatest need.

_Doesn't seem likely, _Tomoki couldn't help but think. He was not like those few he knew who came from the great ninja clans and had the power of potent ancestry flowing in their blood, but only an anonymous, largely untalented orphan. Still the boy hoped his prayers would not be begrudged. After a while he just sat and listened to the sound of the distant stream and the songs of the birds and keening insects, envious of their simple lives.

An odd rustling from the forest drew the rangy genin suddenly alert.

_What?_ he thought, startled as his face paled and his eyes widened with alarm. _Impossible! It's still daylight!_ Tomoki stared hard at the timberline in expectation of whoever or whatever it was that approached. He cocked his head, listened, then considered: _Just one person? But who?_

Through the forest's thick walls of green leaves and black shadows stepped a figure he recognized - a short, yellow-haired boy clad in orange, who marched toward him with a purposeful expression on his face.

Tomoki gawked in disbelief as the blonde came closer, not at all convinced of his reality. The young ninja searched his classmate's face carefully, sure that it must be someone else using a Transformation Jutsu or some other sort of illusion to disguise themselves, unless, of course, he himself was hallucinating in the heat.

The newcomer stopped a few paces away and his damp, peach-colored face screwed into a grimace. "What IS that stink!" he cried and waved his hand over his nose while Tomoki continued to stare. "So, Tomoki, this is where you went off to," the genin observed triumphantly in a gravelly, high-pitched voice, then pointed. "Everyone's looking for you and Iruka-sensei is pissed, believe it!"

"N-Naruto?" stammered Tomoki, all doubts now dispelled that his visitor was indeed who he seemed to be. The taller boy reassembled the bland, well-practiced smile that had served him so faithfully in the past and managed in an almost-unconcerned tone to ask: "How…how did you find me?"

"That old man fortune-teller told me," replied Naruto with a wide grin. "Yup! You see him once a week; it's the same day as two-for-one ramen at the noodle cart just across the street from his stand, that's how I noticed."

"Ichi-sama…?" said Tomoki, puzzled and feeling deeply betrayed. "He just…just _told_ you?"

"Nooo…I had to use my sexy-jutsu on him. Pretty cool the way I tracked you down, huh? I'll bet you didn't think I was that smart?"

Tomoki rubbed his forehead and dragged a hand down his grimy, sweat-slicked face; his visitor was right. The young ninja looked again at Naruto, at his challenging, sapphire eyes, his blue, hidden-leaf headband that pushed his hair up like some kind of yellow thistle and the unusual markings on his cheeks that made him think of whiskers. "Listen, Naruto," he began, endeavoring to diffuse the situation, "I'm kind of in the middle of something here so…why don't you just go back and tell everybody that I'll be along soon, ok?"

The uninvited guest looked at Tomoki then around at the mound of earth and the deep, branch-filled pit that lay off in the woods behind him, the fragments of stone and, lastly, the arsenal of tools and weapons. Naruto's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Just what are you up to, Tomoki? Are you really expecting trouble all the way out here or something?"

"Something," answered Tomoki flatly as his agitation mounted. "Now would you please go?" His terse request came out sounding far more desperate than he'd intended.

The yellow-haired ninja scrutinized him closely and curiously for a moment before a thin, smug smile crept over the boy's broad face. "Nope," he insisted petulantly and flopped down, taking a seat on an adjacent log. "I think I'll stay."

Tomoki's placid veneer cracked. His teeth clenched and he cursed under his breath. "You want to stay just because I want you to go, is that it?"

"I'm gonna stay 'cause I feel like it."

Tomoki cast another glance at the sinking sun and his expression betrayed the depths of his dismay. "You have to go, Naruto, _now_."

"Yeah? Why's that?"

Tomoki struggled for an answer to the simple question. Though he would have said anything he felt necessary to make this intruder go, he'd never been very good with outright lies. _Would crazy Naruto even believe the truth?_ he wondered, biting his lip. "Because if you're still here when the sun sets," Tomoki ventured at last, "you'll die."

Naruto took the news calmly then again broke out into a wide grin. "Really? Sounds exciting."

Tomoki's temper flared. He threw aside his shovel and shot to his feet, trying to seem bigger than his scant height advantage of two inches or so granted him. "You don't get it, Naruto!" the genin cried. "You just don't get it!"

"Tell me what I don't get!" barked Naruto who rose to meet him.

"This isn't some training exercise, some mission or some stupid adventure!" the brown-haired ninja shouted angrily into his classmate's unimpressed face. "My whole life has brought me to this moment; to this place!"

"Big deal!" Naruto answered, jacking a thumb into his chest. "You don't think I've faced death before?"

"Not like this!" rasped Tomoki who turned away, then repeated in a softer voice, "not like this." He stood and calmed himself then said without turning. "You have to go, Naruto, and I mean right now."

"And if I don't?"

Tomoki straightened then, unseen by his classmate, his face set with resolve. He'd known from the start that this genin, more than anyone else could possibly be, would be difficult. "Then I'll have to make you."

Naruto blew out a derisive hiss then crossed his arms. "I've seen you fight, Tom-Tom, you're not _that_ tough."

Tomoki smiled grimly. "You've never seen me fight when it was this important." He knelt and took up one of his short swords then pulled it loose from its sheath – just enough to show the honed, razor edge. "You also might not know this: my fencing skills are really very good. That makes me more than a match for you."

Naruto glared at him askance. "So what are you telling me? That you'll _kill_ me so I don't get _killed_? What sense does that make!" he growled with a wild wave of his arms.

Tomoki quivered with frustration. "If I cut your leg you could crawl away," he explained. "If I took off your arm, with your training and _obvious_ stubbornness, you could still make it back to the Hidden Leaf Village. Either way it's better than if you stayed here."

"Huh…well, that's great except for one little thing."

"Oh, and what's that?"

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he smiled with his inimitable annoying mischievousness. "I don't think you'll do it."

Tomoki goggled with disbelief. "You really are crazy aren't you? It's not just some kind of weird act." The leaf-ninja glared then rolled his wrists and flexed his fingers. "Don't test me on this, Naruto, please. Just walk away; just go home. Don't make me do it," he prodded but the defiant expression on Naruto's face made his position plain enough. "Fine then," Tomoki hissed then asked with a deadly calm: "which arm would you like to loose: left or right?"

Naruto held both straight out from his sides and dared him confidently, "You pick."

"Left it is," answered Tomoki and with that he leaped forward; his blade hissed from its scabbard and whirled upward in a deadly arc.

Naruto gasped, his eyes widened with surprise. The speed and power of Tomoki's motion implied a spray of blood and a cleanly-severed limb sent spinning through the air. The stunned ninja looked left and his expression flickered with relief as he found that his arm was still attached though there was a small slit in the orange fabric of his sleeve. "Hey!" Naruto protested, blue eyes bugging. "You cut my jacket!" He examined the cut carefully and worried it with a finger.

Tomoki looked away dejectedly and let his sword fall to his side. "Sorry," he mumbled and paced away.

"You'd better be! Now I'll have to get this stitched up!"

"Not about your stupid jacket," clarified Tomoki. "I mean, I didn't do you any favors by not taking your arm. If I can't make you go then what happens to you will be my fault." The taller shinobi looked away and muttered introspectively: "If only I was better at this kind of thing, a little stronger -."

"Why don't you just tell me what's going on?" interrupted Naruto with a scowl. "Are you 'strong' enough to do that? Would that be _so_ bad?"

"Yes, Naruto, it would," replied Tomoki curtly as he resumed his seat on the fallen tree. "It's a little personal, you know?" He frowned then his expression squirmed with consternation. "You've never said more than two words to me in all the years we've trained at the academy. I barely even _know_ you. Now I'm supposed to just, what…pour out my life story?"

A rare breeze blew. It stirred through the tree canopies, carrying with it a brief respite from the late-afternoon swelter.

Naruto sat down too then broke the tense silence. "Well, you've never said more than two words to me either, or anyone else that I can remember. You're always so _quiet_ and _polite_ that no one even notices you, just 'yes, sensei; no sensei', and everyone thinks you're SO good. Me: I'm always in trouble and people think the worst about me but at least they know what I think. Everyone was SO shocked when you just left, everyone but me – I thought it was funny! So here we are, just the two of us, whether you like it or not. Tell me or don't tell me, I don't care either way!"

Tomoki gave him a wary look, stared into space for a moment then sighed.

He long ago felt that he'd had Naruto Uzumaki completely figured out and that his classmate was exactly what he seemed: wild and emotional; wanting _desperately _to be a ninja but without either the ability or disposition to become one; and scarred by the effects of a horrible rumor that circulated among the old people about him.

Naruto had changed though. He'd graduated, and defeated the traitor Mizuki with a powerful jutsu; he'd been on dangerous missions. Then too, how easily had it been for Naruto to find him when he'd been sure that he'd covered all his tracks?

Tomoki looked again toward the sun – an orange ball that drew ever closer to the horizon's edge. "Once upon a time," he began with tired sarcasm, "there was a small province in the mountains. It was a peaceful place, mainly because it was so remote and had nothing that anybody wanted." A distant smile passed ghostly across the young shinobi's face. "It belonged to a small-time daimyo, a reasonably competent lord from a long line of reasonably competent lords. But the thing is – this one _loved_ stories of adventure, heroes, duels and honor, and great battles with samurai and ninja. One day, he got to feeling that somehow he'd missed out. What had _he_ done that was so great? Why were there no stories about _him?_

"The glory he dreamed of he thought could only come from war and so he set his sights on the neighboring provinces below - in the richer fields and foothills. Understand this though: the war he wanted was not the kind _we_ know, where warriors bleed real blood and all the victims have names. He wanted the pretty kind you see in paintings and tapestries and hear about in songs, where all the soldiers ride perfect horses, carry colorful flags and wear armor that shines in the sun." Tomoki glanced at Naruto who nodded that he understood.

"But there was a problem," Tomoki continued. Though the young ninja could hardly believe who it was he was sharing his story with, he pressed on reluctantly. "Though this lord's soldiers were as loyal as any, he didn't have near as many as his neighbors did. Now, while that would put the idea of attacking right out of a normal person's head, for this lord it only made him more desperate! It was from that desperation that he did something –," the boy paused as he sought the right word, "unthinkable…he made a pact with Xiaomei."

Naruto looked up. "The witch?" he piped incredulously. "I thought she was just a story."

"So did I," replied Tomoki, "at one time. It would have been better for everyone if she had been. That stupid bastard of a daimyo's dream would have stayed just that, a dream, if it wasn't for her. As you can guess, things didn't work out the way he wanted. "It wasn't long after their 'arrangement' that the lords of the other provinces found themselves beset. Their crops failed, their livestock died and the witch's creatures preyed on their people. The lord of the small mountain province invaded and had his great battle against armies that were half-dead, starved and dispirited. He won, of course," Tomoki reported then shut his eyes, "for whatever that was worth.

"Maybe it was out of that disappointment that our daimyo made things even worse." His brown eyes flickered up. "Whatever it was that he'd promised Xiaomei, he chose not to honor."

Naruto frowned seriously and shook his head. "Doesn't sound like a smart thing to do," the blonde offered, surprising Tomoki who hadn't expected from his guest such a thoughtful or sympathetic inflection.

"It wasn't," agreed Tomoki. "But he only paid part of the price…since he only had one life to lose. An army of monsters more horrible than anything you could imagine descended on that tiny mountain province. When they were done there was not one building or blade of grass left. I lost everything that day: my home, my -," Tomoki stopped himself sharply, overcome with an onslaught of emotion, and bit down hard against tears. He turned his head away, unwilling to let Naruto see him in such a state. Never would he have imagined it would be this hard to simply make himself speak. "No one came to our aid either," the young ninja recounted in a trembling voice once he was able. "I guess I can't blame them. Hadn't we just gotten what we deserved?

"The only people who lived were those who fled - a miserable sea of unwelcome refugees that included me," reported Tomoki. "After awhile," he managed, "that sea spit me up in the Country of Fire and the Hidden Leaf Village. I entered the academy just like you did and trained to become a ninja but all that time all I could think about was how I could use what I was learning to put an end to Xiaomei for what she had done. No matter what new techniques and jutsus I mastered or how hard I tried, it was always clear to me that I was nowhere near being able to match her power. If I could have I would have given up," he admitted sadly but unrepentantly. "I'd have let it go but I just couldn't. It got to be where I couldn't eat or sleep because I'd be thinking about her and her monsters.

"That's when I started to go to that soothsayer, Ichi. I thought, maybe, he could set me on another path. I really didn't expect much but was glad I went because one day he told me something interesting, something I hadn't thought about before: 'how had Xiaomei become so powerful?'" Tomoki straightened then looked at Naruto meaningfully, his mood transforming. "It's a basic question, isn't it? If magic was easy, wouldn't you find witches everywhere? That's when he told me that her powers came from her ancestors. Tell me, Naruto, have you ever heard of _geomancy_? No? Well neither did I. It's like this: the earth has a network of flowing energy, meridians and pressure points just like the human body. Xiaomei's ancestors had all been laid to rest after they died in particular places and sealed with spells that channeled the supernatural energies they'd amassed in life to their living descendant." The narrator mugged a funny look at his audience of one as he added: "Cool, huh?

"And it came to me in a flash. If I could break that chain of ancestry then I could break the witch's power…or most of it anyway. If I picked the right moment like today, the day of the summer solstice, the longest day and shortest night of the year when her dark powers are at their weakest, _then_…THEN I might even have a chance!" A hard expression came over him. Tomoki looked again at his visitor and began to chuckle.

"I guess you really are more clever than I thought 'cause I can see by the look on your face that you're way ahead of me now. Yes, Naruto, Ichi-sama also knew where these meridians lie and so I came here and found the resting place of Xiaomei's great-grandmother's, great-grandmother. There's a word for that, did you know?" added the genin parenthetically. "It's 'tritavia.'

"Anyway, I smashed the stone markers that held the spells then dug up the body which I found wrapped in linen and covered with talismans. Then I defiled it with pig feces and kicked it down the hillside back there into the stream!" Tomoki broke into a fit of manic snickering which evolved after a few moments into an eruption of uneasy, disconcerting laughter, as if not even he could really believe what he'd done.

Naruto's eyes flickered. "So what happens now?" he asked.

Tomoki grinned back with satisfaction as he imagined the naïve boy's mind struggling to take in what he'd just related. "I suppose that she'll come here to see what's happened, bringing along her army of monsters and demons. And then," he supplied in a matter-of-fact tone that only just hinted at what he was about to face, "I believe she'll do her best to kill me."

"So why stay?"

"Huh?" Tomoki went blank.

"Why not just go? You've already taken away her power, right?"

Tomoki felt taken aback at this and bit his lip. He brooded for a moment then answered, "I have to stay, Naruto." His words sounded hollow as he explained, knowing in his heart-of-hearts that it was only half the truth. "If I go, I'll be looking over my shoulder for her all the days I'm alive. She will come tonight because of what I've done, and I will face her."

The boy looked again at Naruto and marveled at how absorbed he seemed. It was so odd! Normally you couldn't get this hyperactive _baka_ to shut up or remain still for an instant! Instead it was Tomoki who fidgeted uncomfortably and felt strangely compelled to say more. "I don't want you to think that this is just about revenge. It's more than that. Since that day she killed my family and destroyed my home, I've thought that she must have half-killed me too because nothing seems real to me. Even you, though you're sitting right there…it's like you only half-exist.

"Naruto, you're always saying that you want to be hokage one day. All I want is…is not to feel this way. If I can't have that -," Tomoki stopped short, shrugged and smiled. "That's about all of my 'sad tale' that I can stand, and it looks like just about another hour until sunset. You can be long gone by then." He drew a dirty sleeve across his brow and offered peaceably, "You know, you're a lot different than I thought you'd be. If I get through this maybe I'll join you for a bowl at that ramen cart…or that other place you're always talking about."

Naruto's brilliant, blue eyes drifted toward him then locked. "Like I said before, I'm staying. I got my reasons."

Tomoki stared at him, tested a number of arguments, then conceded with a shrug and said, "Suit yourself."


	2. In the Company of Monsters

**Chapter 2 – In the Company of Monsters**

The pair waited in strained silence as the light faded slowly from the sky. The day's heat cooled and the insects ceased their frantic flights. Tomoki glanced again toward the west and licked his dry lips. The sunset was a magnificent blaze: a river of orange and violet pouring over the edge of the earth. As spectacular as the sight was, the leaf-genin's breath quickened and he felt hollow in the pit of his stomach. He looked over at the recalcitrant, yellow-haired ninja who sat across from him with arms folded over his orange-jacketed chest, looked away then looked back again. "Please, Naruto," he begged.

His companion grimaced then growled testily, "Don't say it."

"But you're being so stupid!" Tomoki wailed and threw up his hands as he rose. "Naruto, I've thought about this a lot. I've spent half my life training for this day and learning which jutsus I'd need – for attack and defense; I can even _heal_ myself if I need to. I've made my peace but I can't fight knowing that I've killed you too. Think about it – if you stay, you'll die, and you'll never get to be hokage, you'll never -."

"Shut up!" shouted Naruto who sprang to his feet with fists clenched. "I see why you want to get this over with so bad; you're pathetic," he railed intensely, jabbing his finger into the surprised boy's chest. "You think everything's about you! Me and everyone and everything else in the whole world just fades away next to what Xiaomei's done to you. You poor thing! You're the only one who's ever suffered in their life!

"Let me tell you something," hissed Naruto, eyes blazing like sapphire flames, "everyone suffers in their way and you're not the only one who can make a choice. You've made yours and I've made mine! Just because you don't like it and don't understand it doesn't mean it's not right! I'm staying right here so you'd better get used to it!"

Tomoki stared at him, shaken. The young ninja's mouth fell open while Naruto crossed his arms again and looked out into the forest where darkness spread. From the hollows and shadows it grew until everything was covered by it. The blond boy looked up into the bare, indigo luminescence of the darkening sky and seemed to realize that even that would fade in a matter of minutes. "Got any advice?" asked Naruto suddenly.

Tomoki, who could only stand there with a more-or-less blank expression, shrugged bleakly. "No," he muttered then added sharply: "Yes! Don't be afraid."

"What?"

"Whatever may come your fear will make a thousand times worse. Xiaomei can't really create anything; she only gives shape to the evil that's within her. Her monsters are like puppets…or big balloons filled with magic. Don't ever doubt that you can cut through them," Tomoki explained then went to the tinder-filled grave he'd prepared and struck a spark. Fire stirred to life and he drank from his canteen. A look crossed his face and he tossed it to Naruto. "Drink it if you want. It's worse than anything you've ever tasted but it's supposed to be good for the chakra," the young leaf-ninja advised then collected his weapons and made himself ready.

Naruto sniffed at the canteen's mouth and winced but then drank it down anyway. The blond had just finished when darkness finally fell.

Tomoki stared out across the clearing and into the forest with his back to the roaring fire.

Naruto looked at him uncertainly. "Well?" he said after awhile, but Tomoki remained silent as the impatient blond stirred the ground with his foot.

"Naruto," Tomoki cautioned with an understated urgency in his voice, "remember what I said." It was then that Naruto heard it too, a rustle from the depths of the surrounding darkness – a rustle that crept towards them. "Follow my lead. If we can draw them all together then maybe we'll actually live through this."

From the darkness, shapes flickered. Naruto paled for a moment then nodded with a determined look. Something came toward him, a shape even blacker than the night and barely visible except where its edges reflected the fire's fierce light. The creature, if that's what it was, radiated elemental, supernatural terror and its sibilant voice froze the genin to the spot.

"Naruto?" warned Tomoki who then shouted, "Naruto!"

Shards of pitch black exploded from the forest. Tomoki leaped in front of the paralyzed ninja, making hand-signs as he went, turned his back and felt the shards thud and crack against him.

Naruto looked at his classmate's grimacing face in shock as a dark blur passed his own shoulder, splitting blue and orange fabric and drawing blood. "Tomoki, no!" he wailed.

The boy glared up at him. "It's not what you think," the ninja said, turned and slashed double figure-eights with his swords. Black monster skin shred like fabric; black monster blood sprayed into the night air and evanesced into black vapor, and a cry more hideous than any natural creature could make pierced the forest. At Tomoki's feet lay shattered fragments, black as obsidian, smoking away into nothingness. He whirled back then at Naruto and struck him hard in the chest.

"Huh!" Naruto grunted angrily and stumbled back only to be silenced by the baleful look in Tomoki's eyes.

"Hey, Naruto!" the taller ninja shouted fiercely; his face contorted with rage as specs of foam sprayed from his snarling mouth. "Mr. great hokage, Mr. number-one, hyperactive whatever they call you! After all that crap you unloaded to me, you'd better step it up!" he screamed then turned to face the coming darkness.

Naruto's expression hardened. "Hey, you know iron-vest jutsu!" he observed jealously.

"No, really?" Tomoki yelled back in a voice dripping with sarcasm as a dark shape, fluid and indefinable, lunged at him.

Lances and swords formed from darkness stabbed, jaws snapped and claws seized. Tomoki danced away, slashing with oddly languid movements, and the dark shape vanished like a drapery set afire. The genin swordsman retreated a step and took a begrudging look at his unwelcome ally just in time to see a venomous, black stinger impale Naruto from behind and haul him high into the air. Tomoki's eyes widened but the boy's body vanished then and in its place appeared a tangle of twisted branches. _The Replacement Jutsu…that's more like it!_ he thought, warmed by relief, and saw the orange genin plunge toward his spectral adversary from the tree canopies overhead with kunai knives flashing in either hand.

More confident now, Tomoki returned to concentrate on the onslaught of creatures before him. _Save your energy,_ he warned himself. _Smooth, fluid, effortless…let your blades do the cutting._ It was easier said than done. The shadow monsters' bodies were wispy but the weapons they formed were as iron.

Scores fell under his blades as he pressed the fight, encouraged by the sounds of Naruto's battles, before the monsters relented…or seemed to. Sensing something was wrong, Tomoki drew slowly to a stop. _We've been drawn too far away,_ he realized with a gasp. The boy looked back at Naruto who breathed hard but still seemed far from spent. "Back to the fire!" he shouted frantically, directing with a wave of his sword.

Naruto sprang up into the trees and leaped from branch to branch while Tomoki ran below as fast as he could. His arms and legs pumped desperately for he never was that fast, with his sight fixed on the roaring fire that shone before him like a beacon.

"Hurry up!" he heard Naruto cry just as the fire vanished.

Tomoki gasped then understood that the fire was still there, he just couldn't see it anymore because he was surrounded! Braking hard, the boy's feet skidded then caught in vines and he fell.

The shadow-monsters' dark shapes closed in, around, and over him like an enveloping fog. The young ninja rolled away as a hail of black spears and razor shards smacked the earth where he'd been. Fear overcame him; he could no longer see the moon or the stars. Tomoki twisted away and came to his feet. At a sudden sense of peril, he spun around in the pitch black and parried. The oncoming lance, jagged like black lightning, slid over his blade with a screeching whine and Tomoki felt pain sear along his arm.

Suddenly, out of the gloom there appeared a ripped-open patch of blessed, starlit sky as Naruto swiped and stabbed furiously at the monsters from without, teeth bared and flashing white. Not daring to hesitate, Tomoki threw himself toward the opening then, on the verge of being overwhelmed himself, the yellow-haired ninja abandoned the effort and fell in behind his taller classmate just as he escaped.

Blackness whirled after them, close on the scrambling pair's heels.

"Come on!" Tomoki urged as he raced toward the fire but Naruto needed no extra encouragement. "Over here!" he said then veered sharply and stopped beside a towering tree bathed in moonlight.

"What are you doing!" yelled Naruto while the other boy sheathed his swords and made hand-signs for a jutsu.

As the monsters flew like black sails to surround them, Tomoki grabbed Naruto and pushed him into the tree's shadow. Both appeared that instant right beside the fire, springing up from the dancing shadows it spawned.

"Whoa! Nice trick," commented a mystified Naruto, who straightened his vivid, orange jacket. "What do you call that?"

"Shadow Gate Jutsu. See? I told you I was prepared," answered Tomoki between breaths, straightening then as the army of momentarily-distracted monsters regrouped to surge after them. The ninja assessed in a glance that both his and Naruto's wounds were slight. _Nothing that can't be fixed later,_ he thought and again prepared a hand seal, but Naruto stormed forward and made one of his own.

"Shadow-Clone Jutsu!" he barked, and there appeared with staccato pops of smoke a full three-score of Narutos all with kunai-knives drawn, ready to fight.

Tomoki coughed, astonished, then smiled as he realized that these were no mere illusions that any genin could muster but actual physical duplicates. "Ok," he allowed then admitted, "You're pretty handy, I guess you can stay." The army of Narutos formed a protective cordon around him, an elbow-to-elbow wall of orange and blue, yellow hair and sharp steel, and prepared to meet the monsters' charge. "But now," said Tomoki, "for the second reason I made this great, big fire." He prepared his jutsu then waved his hands. A blazing ball of the fire came loose from the pyre, contained within the swirling motions of Tomoki's tensed fingers. The genin thrust them sharply and sent forth a comet that arced into the onslaught of shadows where it burned through rank after rank of them before exploding with volcanic fury.

The Narutos all spared him one incredulous look before the front line of shadow-monsters arrived and the fight was joined.

The chaos of battle raged. All around, orange-clad ninjas slashed, parried and grappled with ebon monsters and kept them at bay while Tomoki's fireballs flew overhead, bursting over and decimating legions of the things in fiery spectacle. Slain Naruto clones vanished in puffs of smoke and the shrieks of vanquished shadows broke upon the night's shore. The timberline blazed with fires and lit up the black with broad, angry brushstrokes of red and orange.

Both warriors fought on relentlessly. Both knew that to tire, to slow, to falter even once was to die. The last of Naruto's shadow clones vanished, pierced through the chest by a twisted fan of black spikes. Of the monsters there were still well over a dozen.

Naruto limped back toward Tomoki who greeted him with an appreciative smile. "Sorry, Naruto," he offered. His eyes traced over the ninja's wounds and battered face. "You got the worst job. All I had to do was hang back." Naruto nodded with a resolute smile that touched Tomoki – there was no anger, no fear, only a selfless, indefatigable determination. "Take cover," he said with inspiration, "the least I can do is handle the rest." With only a trace of hesitation, Naruto followed the suggestion as Tomoki again prepared his jutsu and stood before the fire which welled at his urging into a towering column. Gathering his energy, the fledgling ninja gave an exultant shout at which the column crashed earthward and crested out, its searing energies enveloping the remaining creatures and leaving only a scant few survivors to flee, burning and flapping, into the night…but now the fire was out.

"Is that it?" rasped Naruto hopefully as his eyes searched through the forest. "It can't be, right? Where's that witch you were telling me about?"

Tomoki stood stark still and listened to the distance. "She's out there…and she's not done yet."

"What!" yelped the yellow-haired ninja. "How many of these things does she have?"

Tomoki shrugged. "I believe she spends whatever she uses for magic in her spells like we do chakra for our jutsus. Maybe they're one in the same, who knows, but one of us is going to give out first."

"Right! And it's not gonna be us!" agreed Naruto, who beamed confidently now that he knew the rules. Both ninjas turned and fell silent as an eerie feeling fell over them.

A woman entered the burning clearing, walking through a curtain of fire as if it were only mist. Her shape was black and indistinct against the conflagration. As Tomoki squinted, he could see that she wore formal robes, stiff with bright embroideries and had long hair that waved in the hot, gusting winds.

The young ninja nodded dourly. Xiaomei had arrived.

"W-what now?" Naruto inquired anxiously of the awaiting Tomoki.

"I don't know," he muttered. "Be ready for anything."

The woman brought her palms slowly to just below her midriff then raised them to the heavens and circled them back. At her call, strange lights began to appear, iridescent colors of emerald and violet that glowed against both darkness and flame. Tomoki's head rose but he allowed no expression.

One of the lights touched the earth and seeped into it. From that spot rose a hideous creature - a giant with massive, thick-fingered hands, that sprouted stalagmite horns and stalactite tusks. Another light touched fire and brought to life a fire-demon which capered gleefully before its mistress, waving tentacles of flame.

As the two leaf-ninjas looked on, Xiaomei became a fountain of lights, with dozens and dozens of them erupting into the air. When any touched earth or fire so there appeared a monster until the clearing and surrounding forest was shoulder-to-shoulder with them. The earth shook under the giants' crushing footfalls and the trees erupted into towers of flame.

Naruto stared hard, refusing to believe his eyes, at this glimpse of the underworld and the army from that nightmarish place that marshaled themselves and then marched as one toward them. Tomoki stared too with an expression that softened slowly. The corner of his mouth twitched, lifted slightly and resolved into…a certain smile.

Naruto flinched at the sight. "Tomoki!" he barked. "Have you lost your mind? You'd let me know if you did, right?" The taller genin's smile widened even further which prompted Naruto to take a backward step and raise his arm up protectively just in case.

"No, Naruto, I haven't gone crazy," Tomoki clarified. "I have a plan, that's all. You didn't think I'd come all this way without some way of defending myself against magic?"

Naruto looked back at the oncoming army with growing anxiety as it rushed forward then broke into a charge.

"Run!" Tomoki ordered promptly.

Naruto's mouth fell open. "That's the plan?" he shrieked. "Are you kidding?" But Tomoki had already raced off. "This way!" he cried. "To the top of the ridge!"

Naruto grit his teeth and growled, bounding after him only barely a step ahead of the pursuing monsters.

Tomoki reached the crest first and looked back just as a fiery tendril uncoiled past Naruto and nearly snared him. "Watch that one!" he warned helpfully and loosed a volley of shuriken at the fire-monster. The spinning metal only passed through but distracted it enough for the blonde to spring away.

The fire monster's head swayed toward Tomoki and spat a geyser of fire at which the ninja ducked into the shadow of a rock and vanished only to reappear well away from the ensuing blaze.

Meanwhile, earth-monsters clambered after Naruto, hammering down at him with boulder fists. The young leaf-ninja dodged their blows then ran up one's arm to kick it in the face. Earth and stone spalled from the impact and crumbled away, leaving the monster headless but unvanquished.

Gathering himself, Naruto sprang to the top of the narrow ridge to land right beside Tomoki, wobbled a bit then stuck his arms out to catch his balance. Just behind them, by not more than a step, a sharp, tree-studded slope fell away down to the waters of a rushing stream.

"This is going so much better than I planned," commented Tomoki with barely-contained enthusiasm.

Naruto's eyes bugged as a hoard of earth and fire monsters swarmed up the slope of the ridge toward them. "You're crazy!" the whisker-marked boy shouted and pointed frantically. "What about this looks good to you?"

Tomoki raised an eyebrow. "Don't you see how they're all bunched together?" he pointed out. "This is exactly what I hoped for." Naruto looked at him with alarm. "Come on, Naruto, I've had almost five years to plan and train for this fight; five years to learn magic's strengths and weaknesses. These things look big and powerful, and they are, but there really isn't much holding them together. Just watch!"

Tomoki drew a breath and bent his legs then initiated the complicated hand signs for a jutsu. Naruto looked around frantically as the monsters approached, shoved a big boulder down at them and then heaved a length of rotting log which evaporated in the flames of a fire-monster's chest.

"Hup!" Tomoki annunciated.

"Hurry it up? They're almost here!"

"Hum…hee…haa," continued Naruto's classmate as fiery tentacles lashed toward them and thick, earthen arms clawed at the top of the ridge.

"Tomoki!"

The ninja's last utterance was felt rather than heard. Its effect rippled through the night air and it seemed as if space itself had torn. The earth and fire monsters quivered and fell in its wake, collapsed into inert heaps of earth and stone or sputtered into cascades of embers and ash.

Naruto stared with disbelief as the supernatural army shattered away before him like so many falling dominoes then gasped as Tomoki sank to his hands and knees. The yellow-haired genin rushed at once to his side, knelt and grabbed him by the shoulders. Tomoki's dull, brown eyes wandered dazedly and blood seeped from his nose. He choked once and mumbled, "Pretty good jutsu, huh?"

"Yeah," replied Naruto worriedly, "pretty good." He grabbed Tomoki by the shoulders and helped him to his feet. "Are you ok?"

The boy shuddered. His jutsu had taken all the chakra he had and left him depleted…empty. "Where…?" he stammered and gripped the white of Naruto's ribbed collar, "where is she?"

Tomoki fought for balance as he searched for Xiaomei. His eyes froze then narrowed as they found her, standing alone amidst the scorched, battle-scarred landscape. He took a calming breath then hissed with fury.

The witch's dark shape turned away then she crossed her hands gently over her shoulders, they rose and circled, then fell again to the center of her body.

"No…," whispered Tomoki direly. "She still isn't done."

"Huh?" wondered Naruto as a circle of lights appeared before the distant, shadowed figure. "Oh, no," he groaned, "not again!"

The lights the witch conjured spun together and defined the shape of another terrible beast – this time a gargantuan creature with a bristly, fanged, leonine face, huge reptilian body and long, clawed arms and legs. It rose up against the darkness, glowered at the pair and roared with the sound of thunder and crashing waves.

Tomoki and Naruto looked up at the beast, both boys stricken with awe.

"Ok, what's the plan?" asked Naruto keenly through gritted teeth once he'd gotten past the initial shock.

Tomoki sighed and wiped under his bloody nose with a sleeve. His face fell. "It looks like Xiaomei has entered a pact of her own. That is Tsao-Tsao, the blood-seeker."

Naruto looked at him, disconcerted by the tremor of defeat in his voice. "Yeah, so what? You've got tons of great jutsus, and me, I'm still ready to go! Believe it!"

"I'm sorry, Naruto," said Tomoki with a shake of his head as he scratched his cheek, "but this isn't one of her creations. Even if it was, I'm completely out of chakra. This is a real demon – a powerful being from another world."

The monster roared again as if to illustrate and clawed the air with hooked talons.

"Come on, we can still beat it…and her," prevailed Naruto in a confident tenor.

"No…we can't," replied Tomoki. "You are going to run, cross that stream and head back to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. I will face what I came here to face…and give you some time to get away."

"No, Tomoki!" Naruto insisted, adding a vehement shake of his head. "Like I told you before: I won't go!"

Tomoki turned and stood before the resolute genin, backing him deliberately toward the precipice. He looked straight into Naruto's eyes and knew at that moment that his classmate, who he'd never said more than two words to until today, cared about his life more than he himself did. "I'm dead, Naruto," the brown-haired boy explained with a calm smile as if to a child. "I've been dead ever since the day I lost everything, the day I dedicated my life to revenge. You can't save me…and I won't let you die trying to."

Without warning, the taller ninja's palms shot into the genin's chest, sending Naruto tumbling from the top of the ridge off into space; the expression on his face of shock and hurt surprise as he fell then disappeared into the darkness struck Tomoki like a blow.

"Sorry, Naruto," he apologized weakly as he shut his eyes and bit his dry lips.

The young ninja turned, leaving behind his regrets, then leaped his way down to the base of the ridge to meet his fate.

Tsao-Tsao sniffed the air; its frothing lips parted around fangs, tempted by the scent of human blood. Its long legs tensed then sprang as the demon hurtled over the distance toward Tomoki who waited, blades in hand, ready to meet its charge with all the remaining strength he could summon.

Suddenly, time seemed to slow as Tomoki felt another presence, an evil far greater and even more terrible than the one that rushed toward him. _How stupid was I to think that I'd ever be able to kill Xiaomei,_ the boy realized._ She was only playing with me the whole time._

A shape flew over the ninja's head and landed before him – a creature like a fox, but towering up many times bigger, formed not of skin and bone but of coruscating energies within which hunkered the suggestion of what might have been a human being. It turned a great, glowing eye downward at Tomoki who trembled under the force of its fearsome gaze; its indistinct maw gaped open in a display of triangular teeth, four tails lashed the night air.

The genin's swords shook and dropped from his trembling hands but, astonishingly, the towering fox-man-demon turned away and set its sights instead on Tsao-Tsao.

The realization fell over Tomoki: this was not one of the witch's servants. "Naruto?" he gasped then reeled when he came to the dreadful understanding. "Oh, no…Naruto!" _The rumors…they weren't rumors at all! Naruto really IS the Nine-Tailed Fox!_

As Tomoki stood there with his mind fighting to grasp what he'd seen, a figure approached him from the flame-lit darkness.

Xiaomei threw back long ribbons of jet hair from her shoulders which cascaded down the stiff, square geometries of elegant robes embroidered with gold, silver and colorful silk thread. "Your friend is full of surprises," she remarked and smiled disarmingly. Her face was young, pretty and unconcerned as she regarded him with ebon eyes.

Tomoki swallowed hard and struggled to compose himself in the face of this most hated enemy, a face that brought all the nightmares from his past to life. "Isn't he, though?" he replied coolly.

The witch laughed at this. "You are as transparent to me as glass. You didn't know yourself that the child you brought with you was home to the _Kyuubi no Yoko_ – I did wonder what ever happened to him. Someone very learned must have sealed the beast up in that boy but he is not fully unleashed and so I doubt he's a match for Tsao-Tsao." Tomoki scowled at her mocking tone. "I presume that you are the grave-robber, yes?" Xiaomei said with sudden venom and the leaf-genin nodded his reply. "I see. May I ask why you saw fit to destroy what took generations of my family a thousand years to build?"

The boy's eyes widened. "Can't you guess?"

"From the hatred I feel pouring from you there is no need to guess. You are one of the brats from Chi-ling Mountain." The boy shut his eyes at her mention of the name. "In retrospect, it's obvious that I should have taken pains to ensure that no one left that place alive. Have you been waiting to kill me all this time?" Again Tomoki nodded and again she laughed. "Despite your feelings toward me be assured that they are but a candle held against the sun of my outrage that you would visit such atrocity upon me…and for what? Human lives are common; this world crawls with them like an infested house, but powers like mine are unique. They belong only to those with the extraordinary qualities required to harness them.

"For what you have done, death is the very least you deserve now."

"You know," Tomoki began with quiet composure, "somewhere in the middle of everything that's happened tonight, I had a moment of doubt. I wondered what I was doing. I asked myself: am I really going to give up my life for a chance at revenge; for all the people you killed that can't ever be brought back?" he mused. "Am I really going to walk into the forest, dig up a grave and desecrate a corpse? Am I really going to fight Xiaomei with all her strange powers? And I…I _wondered_ if any of this would take out the stain you left on my life." Tomoki gave Xiaomei a sharp, upward look. "I'm glad you took the time to speak with me…so I could thank you," he offered earnestly then snarled: "I no longer have any doubt _that I did the right thing!"_

"Hmmph," hissed the witch caustically, "your impudence is as expected. But it won't help you. That Spirit-Cannon Jutsu you resorted to is extraordinarily draining. I doubt you have any chakra left to fight me with," she opined with a knowing smile.

"Nor do you have much magic after summoning your pet demon, Tsao-Tsao," returned Tomoki. "But that's ok. Settling this the old-fashioned way is just fine with me."

Xiaomei parted her robe and drew forth a sword – a broad, curved blade with nine metal rings that jangled from its back side. "Little boy is a ninja now," she cooed. "Do you believe you are my match then my fierce, little boy?"

Tomoki grinned. "Let's find out," he said, picked up his swords and set them into motion with each passing back and forth in slow, circular rhythm.

Xiaomei raised her sword over her head, parallel with the ground and extended a hand toward him tensed into a claw. Tomoki's eyes compressed into slits as he flew at her and slashed. The witch parried deftly; the sound of steel edges colliding and sliding off one another rang through the darkness. Tomoki pressed forward and cut left and right but Xiaomei again deflected his attacks then grabbed his wrist and pulled. Her sword whirred just over his head as he ducked and rolled away.

As the genin came to his feet he turned back and their eyes met. _Clearly, she is not unschooled,_ he thought soberly. Tomoki circled his blades around him, came at her and slashed high on either side. The witch blocked twice then nimbly glided away from the low, hooking stab that followed. The ninja cursed to himself, careful not to let his adversary see his consternation.

The witch's calm was unassailable. "As you can see," she offered, "magic is not my only friend…steel is also."

Though Tomoki could hear her footsteps it was as if she glided over the ground. Covering the distance in an instant, the woman was upon him. Her nine-ring broadsword sang as she whirled its edge at his neck. Tomoki blocked once, twice, then countered with a quick block-check-strike technique but she ducked and his slash cut only hair. The boy didn't see the witch's heel whip around until it caught him hard along the side of his head; the genin's vision went dark for an instant then reawakened with pin-pricks of light.

Seeing her advantage, Xiaomei threw herself at him with a fury; the outward beauty of her face contorted with rage and blood-lust. She spun and struck at him with maniacal strength as she sought to break through his guard but Tomoki warded with both blades then sidestepped deftly and her weapon blurred past him. Relentless, the witch flew after the young ninja but he had already recovered. He blocked hard with one blade and whirled the other up for her arm. Her eyes widened as she pulled away, hard and off-balance.

Tomoki now followed after her, sidestepped the sole of her foot which came up for his groin, and slashed. Xiaomei screamed as rents opened in her robes but there was no blood – he'd missed by a fraction of an inch!

The witch's hand lashed out. Tomoki sensed the energies but it was too late. Waves of force seized him, launched him deep into the forest and slammed him against a tree.

Of course he exhaled on impact; of course he kept his chin tucked into his chest to protect the back of his head but even though he'd distributed the force over as much of his body as he could he was still knocked breathless. Instinct screamed at him to move and the ninja slid to one side as a coruscation of lightning lashed the tree with an explosion of bark.

Breathless and blind, Tomoki staggered away…then hid.

Xiaomei's hateful laughter rang out through the black. "Oh, my," she ventured, "it seems that I have some magic left in me after all." The witch came forward slowly, smiled and canted her head with languid appreciation at the shattered tree which glowed and smoldered against the darkness. "I wonder if you still believe that you did the right thing, little boy."

Where the overgrown forest floor sank, not five paces away from where Xiaomei stood, Tomoki hid in a pool of shadow. Sharp, finger-sized splinters peppered his back and shoulder and it was all he could do to stay calm and focused.

"Now where did you go?" the witch mocked. "Have you tired of playing with me so soon?" Her eyes shifted left and right as she paced around the incandesced tree. "You cannot defeat me, you know."

Tomoki heard the slight jingle of the rings on her broadsword and his heart pounded. With agonizing deliberation, he shifted silently into a crouch and crept after her.

Xiaomei gave the dark forest a cross look. "Although I will freely admit the blow you've dealt me, know this: I will rebuild," she vowed shrilly. "I will go on from here and my powers will be even greater for I am nothing if not patient. I will sacrifice dozens, scores, no, _thousands_ of lives on the altar of my ambition if that is what it takes!"

The genin was just behind her now, sword drawn and utterly quiet as he approached. He turned as she turned; read her posture and anticipated her movements.

_Easy…easy…slow…calm…breath in…breath out...,_ Tomoki thought but wondered in the back of his mind if it could really be this easy; could the witch really have forgotten that ninjas were good at sneaking up on people?

"What village is it you call home now?" she asked casually, but the provocative question brought fresh shocks of dread to the boy's mind that maybe Ichi, Iruka-sensei and all the rest of his classmates and the citizens of Konoha could be in danger now because of him. "No need to answer, I'll learn all I need from your corpse."

With his lips pressed together along a hard, thin, determined edge, Tomoki shot forward, his sword pierced her enveloping robes and Xiaomei screamed but she'd turned slightly and the blade had not caught her full. The warrior sliced again at the witch who fell back before fierce, whirlwind slashes.

Gathering herself, she gestured, and an invisible force again clutched Tomoki and yanked him into the air. This time it came as no surprise. The leaf-ninja tossed away one of his swords and flung a volley of shuriken at Xiaomei with his freed hand. The woman flinched, released her hold, and then waved at the oncoming missiles which were deflected away, batted aside by a demon-wind.

Tomoki plunged to the ground, landing in a cat-like crouch. He watched for a moment with expectation then grimaced in bitter disappointment as the sword he'd thrown arced earthward, right on target, but ended up impaling the ground a full inch from Xiaomei's feet. The startled witch jumped back then fixed a hateful stare upon him.

The boy cursed silently and then again aloud, "Can't I get just one break here!" he fumed in frustration. He was wounded and exhausted. Blood flowed down his back and arm; he could feel its sticky, sickly warmth on his skin.

The genin glanced down just then at his remaining sword and the thin, black ribbons that stained it: blood in the moonlight. He _had_ gotten through! He'd cut the witch! The sight encouraged him and brought an expression of grim resolve to his face. _It's not the blood I've lost,_ Tomoki thought,_ it's the blood I have left that's important!_

"Boy?" asked Xiaomei politely, surprising him.

"Yes?" he answered in a matching tone.

A calm, inscrutable look came over the witch's face. "What is your name?"

The genin's brow rose slightly. "It's Tomoki," he informed in a mimicry of courtesy then growled, "_just_ Tomoki…you know why there's no last name."

She considered this and nodded. "To have dismissed you as a little boy was inapt," the enchantress explained and her eyes leveled. "If your late lord had possessed your virtues then perhaps none of this would be necessary." Tomoki was taken by the earnest inflections in her voice but remained vigilant as Xiaomei continued, "I realize now that you are a ninja. I want you to die aware that I appreciate the difference."

Tomoki nodded, smiled and allowed himself a mirthless snicker. "After I kill you, Xiaomei," he replied, "you'll know the difference."

The woman laughed then in a way the boy found way too familiar. "Well said," she offered graciously then suggested, "Shall we finish this?"

"Yeah," Tomoki agreed, looked around at the trees and the deep darkness that lay between them then up into the night sky's starlit tapestry. "After all, it's _way _past my bedtime."

The witch drew a deep breath and exhaled slowly as she extended the edge of her palm toward him and raised her sword. With supernatural speed she rushed at him. Leaping high into the air, she spun the flat of her blade around her neck and brought the cutting edge slicing down toward Tomoki's. He deflected the blow adroitly, using his free hand behind the flat of his blade to brace then push her off-balance.

Xiaomei recovered in time to swing her foot away from the ninja's slash at her unguarded instep. Tomoki then thrust quickly toward her flank but found his blow met and countered. She spun around to reap his leg at the knee but he jumped up, landed, then slashed at her back. Xiaomei blocked it with the flat of her sword then intercepted his punch with her free hand. Pivoting around, she wrenched his wrist and Tomoki yelped as bolts of pain shot up his arm. He swung at her desperately with his free blade, but the counter was far too obvious. The witch knocked it aside easily, slipped inside his guard and smashed his face with the pommel of her sword.

Suddenly Tomoki felt like he was floating, hovering there, weightless, inert, insubstantial. His head wobbled on his neck and he found that, although he could still see what was coming, his body would no longer obey his wishes to do anything about it.

Xiaomei bared her teeth. Her leading slash cut Tomoki diagonally upward across the chest from ribs to shoulder; her follow ripped diagonally upward from the other direction, carving a broad, bloody 'X' into his body. She then whirled around with what the genin felt sure would be a decapitating horizontal cut across his neck but he was mistaken. The witch instead brought her sword in close to her body as she turned, denying him a quick, painless death, and her free palm thundered into his chest.

Tomoki no longer floated but flew! Before his eyes the treetops and night sky blurred past. A strange, dragging sensation at his heels told him that the earth was still down there somewhere just beneath him and rising. There. The young, leaf-ninja squashed against the ground then went rolling again and again and again through a dark kaleidoscope of churned-up leaves, pine needles and scattering earth.

Everything slewed to a stop.

There on the ground Tomoki lay, entranced by the sudden stillness and the soft crackling from the distant fires. His limbs dangled lifelessly and his sword flopped from his limp grasp.

Reflexively, the young ninja's trained hand and arm twitched for his weapon which rested nearby and he rolled himself over reflexively to retrieve it. The sensation of it against his fingers as he found it, a warming, familiar presence, gave him a shred of hope even now.

Summoning every last remaining vestige of strength, he pushed his way up pitifully to his knees and from there attempted to rise but it was no use. The genin planted his sword point-first into the earth and tried to push against it but his legs refused and he dropped down, clutching his arms woefully about his wounded, blood-drenched chest.

"An admirable effort, Tomoki-san," a voice called to him, and he regretted now having told the witch his name. "Determination, courage - you've shown me those virtues here this night. But the world is harsh and virtue often goes unrewarded. Though you are young you must have noticed that by now.

"Haven't you ever wondered why good only exists in flashes, like struggling lamps on a windy night, while evil endures age after pitiless age? Such is the way of things."

Tomoki rasped for breath as he sat on his knees, doubled over; his face, wet with tears, pressed into the forest floor. He could hear Xiaomei's soft footfalls approach as she came before him.

"What a shame," said the woman with a winsome sigh then demanded fiercely, "Look at me, Tomoki!" Her voice echoed through the trees. "I wish to see you. I wish to see the look in your eyes as I send you on to hell."

With his face a quivering, defiant mask, the ninja looked up as the witch whirled her sword high then brought it down in a fatal, final arc. Tomoki's expression blanked as he raised his arm up weakly in defense…and stopped it cold.

Xiaomei gasped, a slight, sudden inhalation as she felt the edge of her weapon strike and stop at the surface of the boy's skin. A grin, quick as lightning, flashed over Tomoki's face and they both realized her mistake. She hadn't seen the hand signs the boy had hidden while bent over - the hand-signs for the Iron-Vest Jutsu.

"I guess…I had a little chakra left in me after all," Tomoki quipped and his hand reached out.

Even without looking, his fingers knew where his sword could be found and were drawn automatically, inexorably toward the handle where they flexed around it one digit, one knuckle at a time. In a fluid, expert motion the leaf-ninja withdrew the weapon from the ground, whirled it up though Xiaomei's outstretched arm, then her opposite arm, then her neck. The witch's limbs and head remained in place for a moment before black seams appeared and they spun away. The motionless body was the last to move, seemingly suspended, before it too surrendered to gravity and collapsed to the ground.

Tomoki stared in disbelief and for long moments fully expected the body to rise and reunite stronger than before like something out of the stupid mangas he sometimes read. He sat there and watched her black blood pool in the moonlight and he knew it was not a trick of the light. Xiaomei's magic and evil had long since stripped her of any humanity.

The boy's shoulders shook as he started to laugh – the kind of laughter that sane people rightly fled from; the kind of laughter found only in the asylum's deepest depths. _Dead!_ he rejoiced, for it seemed like a great weight had been pulled from his shoulders and a shroud lifted from his soul. _You're finally dead!_

_Oh, Ichi! Ichi, you crazy old man! I'll never say or think anything bad about you again. Your shitty drink really WAS good for the chakra!_

Tomoki fell into a fit of unrestrained joy. He slumped over on the forest floor and, wounded though he was, laughed to the heavens. _At last…at last,_ the thought repeated in his head.

Gradually the fury of battle left him. His breath stilled. His heart's pounding drumbeat quieted. All he felt now was tired and cold…so cold. Closing his eyes, he saw his village again there in the mist-shrouded heights of the Chi-ling Mountains – just as it had been. He saw the faces he'd known, felt the embrace of a mother and father who'd loved him, and re-lived how things were so long ago before he knew anything about witches or monsters, before he knew the meaning of the word 'ninja' or touched a sword…way before there were calluses on his hands or scars on his body.

There in the delirious darkness within his closed eyes Tomoki reached toward that place whose essence, incomplete without him, had followed him over the years, trickling down in a narrowing river of red through those far-distant valleys and forests to reunite with him now, here where he lay.


	3. Reconciliation

**Chapter 3 - Reconciliation**

A slow breath oozed from Tomoki's tortured lungs. He reached, without moving, to take hold and become a part of that distant land he longed for until a single thought washed through his mind.

"Naruto," he whispered into the night air.

Though he'd spoken the name softly its significance boomed in his mind like thunder across a chasm. His distant recollections ceased.

_What happened to him?_ The question weighed heavily on Tomoki's mind. _He turned into a demon, an…an apparition of the Nine-Tailed Fox…then went off to fight Tsao-Tsao._ The boy's thoughts whirled as he remembered. _Maybe he won too and killed Tsao-Tsao; maybe he's still a demon. Or, _he gulped at the thought, _maybe Tsao-Tsao won._ A thousand possibilities filled his mind but over all of them loomed the idea that Naruto Uzumaki, his classmate, his _friend_, could be laying alone and bleeding to death somewhere out in the unknown depths of the forest's dark heart just like he was.

He'd never known Naruto well and had never wanted to, yet now the young ninja's mind assailed him with memories of the boy who always struggled: with every lesson, with the endless insults, with the cold eyes of all those old enough to know what was contained within him.

Cruel laughter from his classmates and scorn from everyone else – a double onslaught as terrible in its way as any demon yet he'd never given up. Naruto would always come back, babbling as ever about how he was going to be hokage, with his ridiculous, braying laugh and lurid, orange clothes!

Tomoki again saw the boy's face: smirking with his sometimes-unassailable self-confidence; sullen from having failed another test, or bruised and beaten, black-eyed and split-lipped from fighting. But in the end it was a face that beamed with justifiable pride. He'd passed the academy's final exam; he'd become a genin in spectacular fashion and had flourished ever since.

In the darkness within Tomoki's closed eyes, he looked again for that trickle – the tie that bound him and yearned to carry him back to the only place he'd ever known as home but it was no longer there.

_Shit_, Tomoki reassessed; his plan thwarted.

Even if he was no longer content to acquiesce to death's peaceful embrace, his tortured body demanded that he stop, that he cease. But what it would mean if he did: if he abandoned Naruto to his fate; if he were the last person to see that strange boy alive and look into his face; if he went on with his life or even into death knowing that he might have done something to save him!

"I can't go," the young ninja concluded somberly as his eyes popped open. "I can't rest…there's just no way."

Images of the yellow-haired genin came to him again, from his arrival at the clearing to the last time Tomoki saw him falling into darkness toward the stream. _'I'm gonna stay 'cause I feel like it' – wasn't that what he'd said?_

At the remembrance, Tomoki cried out in anguish and his hands clutched his face. _That's why you didn't go no matter how hard I tried to make you!_ the thought burned in his mind. _It's not because you're stupid, stubborn or crazy!_ _You stayed for the same reasons I have to now! Naruto!_

All at once, everything he'd ever thought about that odd, brash, loud, emotional, forever in trouble, dead-last loser of a ninja flew apart and reassembled. _All this time, I didn't know. I didn't know anything about you,_ Tomoki pondered and his eyes welled with tears. _All this time!_

The young genin's body shivered and creaked painfully under his intention to rise. "Get up!" he growled to himself but found he could not.

The extent of his injuries intruded now into his mind and could no longer be ignored. Blood flowed from his broken face. His chest, he knew, was cut to the bone - wounded so horribly that he couldn't bring himself to look. His clothes were plastered to his skin and it hurt terribly to breathe.

Of course, Tomoki had never planned for an aftermath. The thought that he'd actually still be alive by this point had seemed quite impossible…even _unwelcome._ As he lay there, paralyzed from wounds and fatigue, his vision went black for a moment and knew he'd have to attempt something drastic.

_I wonder…I wonder just how good Ichi's tea really was,_ the boy thought and frowned. To try another jutsu in his exhausted state seemed unwise at best but he had little choice. Unless he could ameliorate his condition he would certainly bleed to death. Then again, if he expended too much chakra – that would kill him too just as sure.

Tomoki slowed his rasping, gurgling breaths, hoped for the best, then inhaled deeply and made hand signs for what he thought might be the last time. Chakra energy coursed through his body; he could feel its electric flow. As his jutsu, the one Ichi called 'Five Elements/Eight Harmonies', began to work he could feel the bones in his cheek, nose and eye-socket rejoin and splinters expel from his back and shoulder. Tomoki's body trembled. He felt hot, as if buried in coals. The power of the jutsu crackled over his chest and he sensed the muscles knitting together, the spider-web cracks in his breastbone sealing shut and his skin creeping back over bared flesh.

_Enough!_ Tomoki thought suddenly and stopped at the boundary of his limit. The ninja's breath raced, his skin smoked and his limbs shook with seizures. _I…went too far – used too much._ A tremor of fear took him as he felt himself drift again toward the precipice of life but stopped and teetered right on the edge.

Tomoki allowed himself a minute to rest and then: "Move!" he commanded and slowly rolled over. Gathering his strength, the shinobi struggled to his knees then braced with both hands to push himself to his feet.

"Naruto!" he shouted into the forest, so loud that his lungs strained and his throat tingled aridly. The boy staggered for a moment then set off into the darkness.

* * *

Long into the night, Tomoki searched. It was hard to set aside the sheer stupidity of running around in a forest at night, injured and tired but thought he was going about it as well as he could under the circumstances. The fires from the earlier battles with Xiaomei's monsters still raged around the clearing and from its light he could orient himself. The novice ninja's healing jutsu had not made him whole but only patched him up enough to continue, just barely. Some of his strength had returned, fueled in part by a heady combination of adrenaline and the lingering effects of the potent infusion Ichi had given him. Though much better off than before, he couldn't fool himself into believing that it was anything but the depths of his reserves and he knew it would not last long.

At first, Tomoki had jumped from branch to branch, high in the trees. In had been from that vantage that he'd found the track. Two gigantic demons locked in mortal combat had left a clear trail of snapped trees and scarred earth. The boy had then dropped down to follow it with a mixture of hope and trepidation.

Now he plodded desolately on foot. Of Naruto, there had been no sign and all was quiet. "Naruto!" the genin shouted again as loud as he could but his voice broke with weary desperation. Tomoki paused and rubbed his bleary eyes with a palm then looked up into the black, star-speckled heavens. Though he'd fulfilled his life's dream tonight, to put an end to Xiaomei, he felt cold now, alone and entirely without merit.

"No…," he answered the unasked question, "it wasn't worth it." The young leaf-ninja's eyes watered but he shook the accompanying feelings away. It was still too soon to give up. "Nar-ooo-tow!" he bellowed for all he was worth then listened as his own cries came back to him in diminishing echoes.

Still nothing.

"Dammit," Tomoki cursed sullenly and grit his teeth.

The path he followed continued on endlessly through the forest - a ruined landscape of shattered and upended trees; raw, jagged wood reflecting eerily in the scant light like bared bones; tangled, exposed roots dripping caked earth crafting quite-unearthly shapes that did nothing to settle the ninja's already troubled mind.

"How much farther could they have gone?" he moaned, noting that the softening glow from the increasingly distant and fading fires was on his left now rather than at his back. The track was taking him back around. Inspiration took him. "Oh, wait!" he exclaimed, remembering, then patted his vest pockets. Very carefully he pulled out a small cylinder and a smile broadened on his face. The smile fell as the flashlight came apart in his hands. Continuing the search through his inventory, Tomoki found that almost all of his useful equipment had gone missing or been ruined during his fight but his heart lifted again as he chanced upon matches. In a few minutes the boy had assembled a torch and struck it to life.

Tomoki rose, happier for the moment as he held up the blazing light, then cowered as a cyclopean claw leaped from the darkness. Jumping back into a protective crouch and fumbling for his sword, the startled ninja grimaced but looked again and noticed this time that it wasn't moving. Slowly, the boy straightened, ran a hand over his closely-cropped head and moved toward the apparition, supposing this 'claw' was only another fallen tree animated by the flare of his fire. But a pass of the torch revealed that it was indeed the scaly and scabrous hand of a giant, its curved, blood-clotted talons frozen in mid-clutch rictus. As he circled the gruesome limb warily, giving the thing a wide berth, the wrist and forearm behind it revealed themselves along with the ragged, charred flesh and ghostly-white bone where the monstrous appendage had been blasted away.

Tomoki stared grimly. _Well,_ he thought, _at least_ _I know __**that**__ didn't come from the Nine-Tails._ Still, he couldn't say if he should really take this grisly discovery as a good omen or bad.

His eyes searched the torch-lit darkness. "Naruto," he ventured again though not so boldly as he left Tsao-Tsao's arm to vanish into the gloom behind him, continuing his quest along the trail of devastated and cratered timberland as it curved jaggedly back, downstream a ways from the clearing where this all began.

Slogging forward, it felt as if the night was closing in around him, pulling right up to the shrinking glow of his flickering torch which only seemed to illustrate how very alone he was. For all his training and deadly skills, still the boy found himself all but helpless against the age-old instinct to be afraid of the dark. Again he steeled himself as he called out in an uncertain voice, "Naruto?"

Light flickered in the darkness up ahead – two tiny pinpricks side by side. Puzzled, and with an unwelcoming stygian timberline looming on either side compassing him, Tomoki crept slowly forward. As he did, the flame from his torch revealed an outline, an outline that resolved into the shape of an enormous and terrifying leonine visage. Bristling whiskers and scaly lips peeled over glistening bloodstained fangs. Glimpses of bare, white skull showed through in great gaping rents in its leathery hide, and there in the bulging hemispheres of Tsao-Tsao's lifeless, glassy eyes, Tomoki found himself twice staring back, mouth agape, stunned features distorted by convexity and awash in an orange halo of torchlight.

The genin's lips quivered nervously into a tick of a grin as the appearance of this monster's severed head conjured in his mind something like a wayward tiki statue or stray mo'ai from far away. Then too, the concept of any power vast enough to tear something as fearsome as Tsao-Tsao apart and leave the thing's sloppy ruins strewn over the battlefield was not something his mind was capable of digesting easily.

"I guess," stammered Tomoki after a time though the observation was a step past obvious, "I guess you won that one, Nine-Tails…Naruto."

The leaf-ninja's musings were 'rewarded' with a low growl…a deep basal tone that vibrated through his ribs and filled him with instinctive terror. His cheek twitched. The hopes he held that it was 'only' a tiger or perhaps a wolf were dashed as he was struck by a surge of overpowering, supernatural malevolence; the wasteland where he stood illuminated slightly by a faint, tenebrous and preternatural glow. Tomoki turned slowly then froze. There between the trees rose the terrible shape of the Nine-Tailed Fox but it was different than before. A skeletal form towered now, shrouded in billowing energy, animated by the ancient evil of its chakra. The demon's eyes glowed and, not four, but six tails lashed now as horrid power spiraled around it in an angry, red maelstrom.

Tomoki's mouth moved to speak but no words came as the beast slid from the darkness of the forest into the moonlight then stalked toward the genin with teeth bared, the thing's clawed feet pitting the ground as it came.

Nearly paralyzed, the young ninja took a quaking backward step, dropped his torch then threw himself aside and fled in abject terror as the Kyuubi's fanged maw gaped wide and a bolt of baleful light brighter than the sun flashed through where he'd stood, melting a valley in the ground clear out to the horizon and erasing from existence the head of Xiaomei's demon.

A tortured, patchwork landscape flew past in a dark blur. The boy's legs pumped, his lungs burned as he broke for the tree-line and the promise of shelter. The Nine-Tails titanic, skeletal paw slammed into the earth behind him, cratering where it struck and gouging trenches with its claws. Tomoki leaped, passing into the forest, as the Demon-Fox crashed headlong into the trees after him, shattering stout timber like matchsticks. The boy broke right sharply, breath heaving pitchy with fear as he covered his head with his arms while debris rained down. Behind him the Nine-Tails bellowed fury.

Scrabbling through the twisted undergrowth, the ninja summoned his chakra to leap again into the trees and from there from branch to branch until a shadow crossed the moon and he found himself headed straight for the beast as it landed before him with a crash like thunder.

Jaws snapped and fiery tails cracked like whips overhead and through the trees as Tomoki threw himself to the ground and stumbled, scrambling to head deeper into the forest but again the Kyuubi headed him off, baying and snarling, razor teeth flashing, crouching low to catch a glimpse of its prey between the boles.

Finding shelter behind an escarpment, the young ninja huddled, his breath wild and ragged, eyes wide in terror. Tomoki swallowed hard, forcing himself to take a second to think but it was a second he didn't have. The earth rumbled under the Nine-Tails' charge. In a flash it was over him, eclipsing the night sky as it glared down, snarling, drooling, tails whipping red against the darkness.

Down the Demon Fox came in a blur of blinding, bone white and fire red while Tomoki, swallowing hard and standing resolute, rendered seals with his hands only to crumble away into an effigy of branches and tangled undergrowth as the monster's claws smashed through him.

* * *

Tomoki, racing clumsily, as fast as his spent body and depleted chakra would carry him, heard the Kyuubi no Yoko, destroyer of the Hidden Leaf Village, bay with rage in the distance behind him knowing it had been deprived. The sound rattled through the trees and through the boy's ribs, stirring the ground and sending leaves to flight. Hideous and terrifying as the sound was, Tomoki had gained a lot of ground with his gambit and he couldn't help but be a little proud at having stood his ground, maintaining enough concentration in the face of the Nine-Tailed Fox's power to work the Replacement Jutsu.

_Sometimes the simple tricks are the best!_

Almost giddy with relief, the young ninja allowed himself a chuckle but willed himself on, enforcing an even faster pace. Whether he survived or not might still be an open question but if he didn't it was NOT going to be for lack of running! Even so, he spared one backward look toward where the Tailed Beast had already slipped from view. _I'm sorry, Naruto, _he thought fervently but not without a twinge of conflicted guilt. _I'm sorry._

Just ahead, the terrain sloped up and Tomoki could hear the cool and clean waters of the stream on the other side beckoning him on. _Just a little…further!_ the ninja thought as he struggled to keep his pace, strain and weariness pulling at him with every stride, his mouth dry as cotton. _…A little more!_

At last he was there. Heaving a sigh of relief with a smile brightening his otherwise grimy, sweat-slicked and exhausted face, Tomoki coasted at the top, using the last of his momentum, then flung himself into space. As the cool wind whistled past his ears a riot of motion and harsh color flared up at him from the ravine below, cavernous and inescapable. In a flicker too short for thought, Tomoki felt the gust of furnace-like breath, sensed the chakra - overpowering, elemental, evil and ancient beyond anything in creation. And as jaws of bone capacious enough to gorge on a hundred Tomoki's closed around him, within them ensconced a brilliant pearl of annihilation, perfect and white as the sun, there was no time for fear but only an instant of near-transcendent awe.

* * *

Bright morning light slanted over Tomoki's face and his eyes fluttered open. "Gyaaaah!" he screeched and pulled his arm over his face reflexively as the full force of the arisen sun sent spears of pain searing through his tender pupils. Under his sudden, jerking motion, the fresh scabs on the young ninja's many wounds pulled open and he cried out again even louder. The boy hunkered pitifully then on his elbows and knees, trying not to move, whimpering as his whole body throbbed in angry protest.

At last he allowed himself to flop gingerly to a side and peeked out. The experience of waking up in the middle of the woods, disoriented and half-torn apart instead of safely in the bed of his attic apartment in Konoha informed him that something wasn't right. By and by the memories drifted back in jigsaw-puzzle flashes and explained to the awakening boy most of what had happened.

"Heaven and Earth," he muttered to himself, crawled to his feet then dragged a hand down his slack and puzzled face. "Am I really still alive? How is that possible?" The whole concept seemed completely absurd and yet if this was the afterlife, Tomoki found it strikingly similar to the material world.

The boy looked down at himself, sighed and looked away. To say he was a mess would be an understatement.

The sunshine that beamed down over him and the forest this morning was warm and bright with only a suggestion of the day's heat to come. A soft breeze drifted through the trees. Birds sang, insects keened and flew about, and along the swath trampled and blasted the night before by raging, brawling demons, a deer grazed.

Tomoki rubbed his complaining muscles, flexed stiff joints then jumped. Just a few paces away, almost nude and so silent and motionless that he hadn't noticed before, sat Naruto upon an uprooted tree. The sight drove all thought from Tomoki's mind, though he wondered if he shouldn't be terrified.

The ninja's eyes went wide as the Kyuubi's incarnations flashed before them, menacing and murderous.

_I guess…if he was going to kill me he would have done it by now,_ he rationalized at last, gulped, then moved slowly toward the lone, yellow-haired figure.

"Well, N-Naruto," the boy ventured nervously as he drew alongside with a facile smile on his face. "That was some night, huh? I thought I had some secrets, what with the witch and all, but, I mean…wow, right?"

Tomoki grimaced at the awkward inanity of his greeting then examined his classmate's wounded, chakra-burned body and haunted, expressionless face; there was no trace of reaction. The genin winced and instinctively took off his multi-pocketed vest to drape around Naruto's shoulders only to find what a useless gesture it was – there was hardly anything left of it but a threadbare ruin of burnt and bloodstained shreds. "And _you_ were complaining about a slit in your sleeve," he offered drily, casting the garment aside with a disgusted gesture. "I guess we both got challenges in the clothing department."

Again nothing. Tomoki looked toward Naruto then craned to search for any signs of life in his classmate's expressionless face. As his eyes fell on those whisker marks on the shorter genin's cheeks, he couldn't help but draw back a little and had to steel his nerve.

"Listen…are…are you ok?" Tomoki asked then took a seat a cautious couple of arms-length away from the plainly traumatized, yellow-haired boy as if he might suddenly combust but still there came no answer.

Tomoki rubbed his cheek. He wasn't good at this kind of thing. What was he supposed to say, anyway? This was a job for someone older, wiser…just plain smarter. _Iruka-sensei would know what to do._

"I'm…I'm a monster," Naruto muttered at last, his words laced with despair.

Tomoki, startled at first by the utterance, frowned and shook his head. "You're not a monster, Naruto," the boy began only half-heartedly, his memories of last night begging to differ. "Listen, everyone's got a dark side. Yours is just -." He stopped himself short; reigned in his affected humorous tone and let his forced smile fall from his face. "You're not a monster."

"I remember last night…just bits and pieces," Naruto stammered. The sound of his voice, stripped of all its former brash vitality, lanced through Tomoki. "I remember I was going to kill you. I _wanted_ to kill you!" he confessed and his eyes welled.

"But you didn't," replied Tomoki. "That counts for a lot. And anyway, it wasn't really _you_," he added with growing conviction.

"It was just luck. I could've killed _you_, could've killed _thousands_. It's all the same to the…to the Fox. Maybe it was only what you did, what you said…"

The taller ninja shook his head gently. "If you really were a monster then nothing I could have said or done would have stopped you. Anyway, I came here ready to die so it's not like I have any right to complain." Naruto's expression quivered but he again fell silent, leaving Tomoki again to wonder what he was supposed to do now.

Frustration burned as the ninja fought for some inspiration, some strategy. There were so many things he was good at but none of them were any use here. Thoughts gripped him - where he'd started and where he stood now, how he'd grown up alongside Naruto for years…_years!_…never noticing _his_ struggles or his pain, his courage or his kind heart, never once offering to help, blind to everything and everyone but his own past hurts and the task he'd set before himself. How many others had there been? How many had he simply ignored in his self-absorption?

Naruto had known all that and still risked _everything_ for him – his life, his dreams…

"Ok, look, Naruto," Tomoki began, testy with agitation as emotion crested over reason, "I can see that you're upset about this demon-thing you've got inside you but you know what? I'm glad!" he blurted, shot to his feet and threw up his hands at which his wounds reminded him that he shouldn't really be doing things like that. "Yeah, I couldn't be happier that you're the Nine-Tailed Fox. Y'know _why_ - 'cause if you weren't then _I'd_ be dead and _you'd_ be dead and Xiaomei would still be alive! And after she'd re-grown her powers she'd be on her way to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village too."

The brown-haired boy knitted his brow and started to pace. "I can't imagine what it must be like to have something like that inside you. But where you see evil, I see, I don't know, something else too: fate, destiny, maybe even... I—," he restrained himself sharply, doubting that his getting carried away would help his disturbed companion any. "Sorry…I guess I'm still sounding pretty selfish again, like everything revolves around me," Tomoki admitted, deflated and self-conscious. "But don't you realize that being able to hold that _thing_ back from killing me like you did…that takes strength, an…an…an extraordinary quality that comes from _you_ and not it. That Kyuubi is a monster, there's no doubt, but you're not! Ok? _You're not!"_ He waited for a moment in expectation of some reaction then stormed off. "Why am I even trying?" Tomoki cried, venting. "You didn't listen to me before, not when I begged, not even when I threatened to chop off your arm, so why should you start now!"

For a long moment Tomoki glared into the forest and silence reigned but then: "You really think so?" asked Naruto whose fragile voice lifted with hope.

Tomoki turned back to him slowly. He pained at Naruto's expression but a smile bloomed over his face. "Of course I do." Naruto grinned awkwardly at his classmate's confirmation and wiped at his eyes. "Listen, Naruto," Tomoki ventured, "I don't want to rush you. Please…take all the time you need…but back where you found me, assuming that my pack wasn't burned up or crushed or anything, I've got some food, a medical kit and a, uh, change of clothes…" He let the unasked question hang.

Naruto's expression shifted then rose into a faint smile. "Let's go."

It seemed to Tomoki that the walk back to the Hidden Leaf Village was going strangely fast. When he'd left, loaded with tools and weapons, on the back of a cart – a ride he'd begged from some cabbage farmer, he'd been so single-minded and focused that every second's delay had passed like an eternity.

Thanks to a good-sized squad of shadow-clones, Naruto and he had found his pack which had been left miraculously spared by the previous night's violence. They'd eaten the scant rations of bread, sour persimmons and salty, dried fish like it was a celebration. For Tomoki, it had all tasted better than anything he'd ever had before. The two genin drank their fill of fresh water from the stream, nursed wounds, bathed away cakes of dirt and crusted blood and felt much better for it.

Tomoki looked back at Naruto who still fidgeted, unaccustomed to Tomoki's ill-fitting clothes - typical drab Hidden Leaf Village ninja fatigues. The taller ninja couldn't help but suppress a smile. The blond looked quite unlike himself dressed in anything other than his signature orange. Despite the change in wardrobe, the resilient Naruto had otherwise returned to his confident, talkative self and Tomoki, who was by nature reserved anyway, was more than happy to listen to the number one, hyperactive, knuckle-head ninja's declamations about his past ninja missions and his pivotal roles in them, his personal philosophy, the virtues of different kinds of ramen, Sakura Haruno's prettiness, and his endless conflicts with his teammate Sasuke Uchiha who Tomoki would never have guessed was so diabolical!

Tomoki looked down the country road to where it vanished over the crest of a hill, then around at the peaceful woods – the tall trees and leaf-laden canopies.

"You're kinda quiet, Tomoki," observed Naruto but only after several hours.

"Hmm? Just thinking," replied Tomoki with a pacific grin. "Everything seems so different now."

"Huh? What do you mean? Different how?"

"It's hard to explain." The genin's eyes lifted in thought. "The sunlight seems warmer, colors look brighter, the leaves in the trees…I never really noticed them before, at least, not for a long time. I can hear the soles of my boots against the gravel and it sounds like music."

Naruto gave him a quizzical look. "So, that's good, right?"

"Not all of it." Tomoki smiled and shook his head. "For the longest time Xiaomei was always in my mind and I couldn't see anything past her. I can only think now about everything I've missed and all the people who I never gave a chance - you, Iruka-sensei, everyone." His footsteps slowed to a stop. "But things are going to be different from now on," Tomoki vowed. "I feel like I can start again. Change is hard but not as hard as, I don't know, fighting an evil witch and her army of monsters, right?"

Naruto laughed in agreement and rested his hands behind his neck. "Right!"

"It's all because of you, Naruto," said Tomoki, whose eyes shone with gratitude. "And I haven't even bothered to say 'thanks'. I guess I'm still a little selfish." He turned to face Naruto and looked at him squarely. "You told me that your dream is to be the strongest ninja around so that you'll finally be respected, but I couldn't respect anyone more than you, now or ever." Tomoki lowered himself gracefully to knees then, dropping his hands and forehead to the ground, knelt in a formal bow. "Thank you, Naruto," he offered humbly.

"Hey, stop it Tomoki!" cried Naruto uncomfortably as he grabbed Tomoki by the arm and pulled him up.

"You'll have to get used to it one day," the taller ninja chuckled, jostling into him "when you're hokage!"

"When…?" Naruto looked at him nonplussed then smiled with slight embarrassment. The yellow-haired boy recovered and said, "You're my friend, Tomoki. You don't ever have to bow to me!"

Tomoki laughed then turned serious. "Naruto, I don't think there's any way I can pay you back for everything you've done for me."

"Forget it. No big deal," said the genin who waved his hand dismissively. He looked away then looked back. "So you really think I could be hokage?"

"Sure!" Tomoki agreed eagerly. "Anything's possible and things aren't always what they seem. If I've learned nothing else since yesterday, I've learned _that_. Plus you've got _me_ on your side…for whatever it's worth." Naruto's expression flickered but Tomoki didn't ask what it meant.

"Do you think I'd be a good one?" Naruto asked then gushed, his sapphire eyes shining. "The greatest ever!" Tomoki blinked as he mulled the question seriously. "Well!"

"Eh, we could probably do worse," the boy offered with a shrug.

"Ahhhhg, hey!" Naruto shouted and gave his friend a playful but still forceful shove.

"Hey, I'm just saying what I really think," Tomoki called out as he raced ahead. "Isn't that a part of that 'Way of Naruto' you told me about?"

Naruto made a sour face. "Yeah well, I take that part back, believe it!" he shouted then raced after him.

**The End.**


End file.
